Tag Archives: early-on-monday

Ebola In America? NY Patient Being Tested For Virus, High Fever Upon Return From West Africa

This is some scary isht… Possible Case Of Ebola Hits The United States Ebola is making a resurgence in Liberia and throughout West Africa , but now an American traveler may have brought the virus back with him after a trip to an African nation experiencing an outbreak. Via MailOnline : New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital is treating a sick male patient who recently returned from a West African country where the Ebola virus has been reported. The patient arrived at the hospital’s emergency room early on Monday morning with ‘a high fever and gastrointestinal symptoms,’ according to a statement from the hospital. The patient has been isolated and is undergoing diagnostic testing for Ebola, but also for other illnesses that could cause his symptoms. ‘All necessary steps are being taken to ensure the safety of all patients, visitors and staff,’ the hospital said in a statement. ‘We will continue to work closely with federal, state and city health officials to address and monitor this case, keep the community informed and provide the best quality care to all of our patients.’ The Department of Health has since released a statement stating that the patient is unlikely to have the deadly disease. ‘After consultation with CDC and Mount Sinai, the Health Department has concluded that the patient is unlikely to have Ebola. Specimens are being tested for common causes of illness and to definitively exclude Ebola,’ read the statement. Hospital officials say they hope to have an answer in the next 24 to 48 hours, but they say the symptoms are common in other illnesses. They say it’s “unlikely…” but how comfortable does that make you??

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Ebola In America? NY Patient Being Tested For Virus, High Fever Upon Return From West Africa

Victory for Rainforests! Nestle Agrees to Activists’ Demands!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20005101-36.html Sometimes these things might actually work: An aggressive, meant-to-shock Facebook and YouTube campaign on behalf of environmental group Greenpeace has caused food conglomerate Nestle to modify its policies regarding the use of palm oil. IN THE PHOTO: An activist wearing an orangutan mask protesting at Nestle’s Jakarta offices. Nestle dropped Sinar Mas as a supplier amid Greenpeace accusations that the palm oil producer was contributing to deforestation. (EPA Photo) Nestle announced early on Monday that it has partnered with The Forest Trust, a non-profit group that helps businesses develop practices that harvest forests sustainably, to tackle the social and environmental impacts of its corporate supply chain by severing ties to companies that contribute to deforestation. The first issue addressed will be its use of palm oil–the harvesting of which has been connected to the loss of rainforests and the animal species that inhabit them, as well as greenhouse gas emissions. Greenpeace considers this a major victory: Two months ago, the environmental group targeted Nestle's use of palm oil with a purposely unsettling video that compared eating Kit-Kat bars to snacking on the bloodied appendages of orangutans. When Nestle lobbied to have the video removed from YouTube, Greenpeace turned its force up a notch and encouraged supporters to start posting comments in protest on Nestle's Facebook fan page and to change their profile photos to modified versions of the Nestle logo (i.e. “Killer” instead of Kit-Kat”). The whole thing turned into a particularly ugly social-media mess for Nestle when the manager of the Facebook fan page started getting argumentative and rude. The commenters grew even more vocal, even after the page manager apologized. Nestle's Monday announcement makes no mention of the digital smackdown that pressured it into making this change, but Greenpeace has been quick to highlight the role of social media as well as more traditional forms of grassroots lobbying. “With nearly 1.5 million views of our Kit Kat advert, over 200,000 emails sent, hundreds of phone calls and countless Facebook comments, you made it clear to Nestle that it had to address the problems with the palm oil and paper products it buys,” read a Monday release from Greenpeace's U.K. division. “Greenpeace campaigners have met several times with Nestle executives to discuss the problems with sourcing of palm oil and paper products. It certainly seemed like things were moving forward in these discussions. But we didn't expect Nestle to come up with such a comprehensive 'zero deforestation' policy so quickly.” Nestle says it had already set a goal to make its palm oil products 100 percent sustainable by 2015. Right now, it's at 18 percent. So is its partnership with The Forest Trust any more than just posturing? Greenpeace is optimistic. The Forest Trust is “an independent organization we've worked with before (and) will be closely monitoring Nestle's progress,” the release from Greenpeace read. added by: captainplanet71